Project Summary ? Abstract Partial support is requested for an international meeting on Meiosis as part of the Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) and the accompanying Meiosis Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). These meetings will be held at Colby- Sawyer College in New London, NH. The GRC is a 4 -day meeting taking place June 10-15, 2018 and is preceded by the 1 -day GRS meeting taking place June 9-10, 2018. The GRS is a meeting organized by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that offers ample opportunities for junior researchers to network and discuss the topics that will be covered in more depth during the Meiosis GRC. Meiosis is the specialized cell division program that results in the formation of haploid gametes and is therefore central to sexual reproduction, ensuring both fertility and genetic diversity. The long term goal of the conferences is to understand the fundamental mechanisms that ensure the stabile inheritance of the genome during meiotic cell divisions. The specific aims of the meetings are to: foster innovation, create networks between young and established investigators, rapidly disseminate new and unpublished results, and promote interdisciplinary synergies. The GRC will gather approximately 180 participants, including 53 speakers, to present and discuss cutting-edge, unpublished research. The program comprises 9 plenary sessions that broadly address current issues in meiosis such as: the organization, regulation and functions of chromosome synapsis, the regulation of initiation, progression and distribution of meiotic recombination, new and emerging technologies for assessing the sources of aneuploidy, spindle assembly and regulation of sister chromatid cohesion, epigenetic control of meiotic processes and germline gene expression, cell cycle checkpoints, regulation of chromosome dynamics and chromatin organization during meiosis, and the evolution and natural variation of meiotic processes. Four poster sessions will provide a basis for extended and in-depth critical discussions. The poster sessions are a particularly valuable forum for forging interdisciplinary collaborations and for new investigators to join networks. The GRS will include between 50-60 participants and will have three plenary and two poster sessions. This application has direct relevance to human health. Errors during meiosis have a significant impact on human reproductive health, accounting for more then 30% of all miscarriages, as well as infertility, stillbirths and birth defects such as Down Syndrome. In addition, many of the mechanisms that repair programmed meiotic DNA double-strand breaks also serve to protect mitotically dividing cells from harmful DNA lesions. Therefore, understanding meiosis provides novel insights into genome stability and preventing cancer. This pair of conferences brings together graduate students, postdocs, young investigators and established PIs working on both basic and clinical research at the forefront of the meiosis field with the common goal of innovating and expanding our knowledge in this critical area of reproductive health.!